Current Events of the TechnoPolitical World 1994 to Present.
American Politics today. With a special focus on The Impact of Digital Technology on Politics, Civil Liberties , Elections, Lobbying, and Life. ( and some other stuff too.) {MY COMMENTARIES ARE THE WORDS IN THE BLUE FONT.}

Friday, December 7, 2012

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-------------------------------------------------------------------According to my Google Blog stats, this blog is getting most all of its hits this week -- AGAIN -- from Russia. And that a good chunk of them, I am pleased to see, are for older posts. I am so glad you find the info useful. So I want to give a shout out to our Russian Friends. Hello Russia !!! All the best. ( If you do @twitter please find me here ) ~~ @RobHalperin

Saturday, November 24, 2012

‎"Mr. Obama’s worst precincts were in Orthodox Jewish areas like Ocean Parkway and Williamsburg in Brooklyn and Kew Gardens Hills in Queens. In a few precincts in Borough Park, Brooklyn, Mr. Romney won more than 90 percent of the vote."http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/24/nyregion/the-city-vote-precinct-by-precinct.html?ref=nyregion-------------There is very little honest debate of political issues anymore in the Orthodox Jewish world. The mindset of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, et al & etc ,, dominates most all "frum" newspapers, websites and blogs. Opposing views rarely get aired or examined.

Birther-ism and the view that 'Obama is some Muslim socialist' is shamefully the prevalent view in Orthodox Brooklyn. It is not at all uncommon to hear the N-word in reference to Obama among the shmoozers in shul & at Shobbos tables , with few ever protesting.

> But just try and reduce food stamps, Section-8 and other "socialist" benefits, watch how quick the leadership of the 'yeshiva world' "revolts". <

The "yeshiva world" is a most bizarre and contradictory "body politic" for sure.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Why I like the Electoral College:A national recount would be impossible. In 1960, 1968, 1976, 2000, and maybe 2012, there would have been screams and cries from the losers for a national recount. If we can barely recount Florida today , how could we recount the whole nation? The EC has worked fine since 1789, and has always provided a smooth transition of power. Never assume that is a given. No major democracy has a full direct election of the Commander-in-Chief, b/c it breeds revolutions .If it is not broken , do not fix it .-------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

When I first went to collage many moons ago -- 1976 to be exact -- I started my major in Pol-Sci. I was studying under an Jordanian Christian professor ( a leftist , but not extremist), and in the company of many Mid-east students , esp from Iran.

You know, after many classes and much debate, we discoverd we agreed on most everything globally.
But of course the Middle-East is more complicated. Why ?

It became an axiom of our studies,

that both sides in the Palestine-Israel debate

have a lot of "right" on their side ,

and both sides also got a lot of "wrong" on their side.

Debating history ain't gonna solve anything.

Solutions will only come when Both sides either:

HAVE TO resolve it, as when events on the ground make the situation untenable.

OR just WANT TO resolve it.

The later seems unlikely.

But as everyone with a sane mind TODAY agrees,

that as the Palestinian population grows faster over the next 10-20 years,

the current status-quo geo-political situation

of an Occupation will become untenable.

So you can "pay me now", or "pay me later" , as the saying goes:

The Palestinians forming a peaceful Democratic state is the only peaceful solution.

Means that a Strong Intellectual Democrat with Charisma will most always beat ANY Republican anytime for POTUS. Americans like smart Dems. (JFK v Nixon: prime example. Maybe the 2 most dynamic politicians of the 20th Cent.)

Wet democrat rags like Kerry, Mondale [and as Carter became in 1980,] loose.

Humphrey & Gore, just barely lost , but again they do not quite fit the mold of being both very smart AND very charismatic, which just strengthens my point.

Obama is not Carter as much as the GOP would like to think he is, and Mitt Romney's rag is soaking up more water everyday, imho.As LBJ and Truman fell into potus , and were not first elected, i did not count them in here above>> but either way, both won re-elect.McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry they all lacked the great charisma factor, nor were they at the education / intellect level of FDR, JFK, Carter, Clinton, Obama::: Stevenson was smart had good charisma , but not great charisma , and he was against General DDE a war hero , & after 16 years of a Democrat POTUS>> Stevenson was just doomed. :: As far as Humphrey, had charisma but not a Rhodes scholar or Editor of Harvard Law Review type. And it still took a smart charismatic Nixon to beat HHH, and just barely.Obama fits the mold of "Smart AND Charismatic Democrat" 110%, while Mitt Romney is a wet GOP rag. Much like John McCain became in 2008.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Ok. Time to set the record strait on the "Hebrew Bible" as the reason why Christians ban Gay Marriage:

The Christian Church does not ban Gay Marriage because of the Hebrew Bible Prohibitions, (If they did they would have keep kosher and the other Mitzvahs also). The prohibitions in the 5 books of Moses only apply to Jews, and non-Jews are not required, (or even allowed) to keep them.

The VERY Early Church -- who remember where educated Rabbis -- adopted the "Seven Commandments given to Noah" as a practice for non-Jews to follow as new Christians. These "Sheva Mitvahs Beni Noach"-- which we only know of from the Talmud-- is a Jewish tradition the Jews hold applies to all mankind.

The Early Church , as Jews, were out to bring non-Jews into their new Jewish Messianic Sub-Culture, and required of them only "Faith" and these "Seven Mitzvahs of Naoch" as a practise.

Interestingly , there is debate among the Rabbis of the Talmud, and later commentaries as to exactly what are these 7 "laws" , and as to whether it bans 'gay-male-sex' , OR just , incest , adultery , and doing it with animals.

As the Christian Church grew , they made Dogma out of their *interpretation* of the "7 laws of Noch", but their gay marriage ban is NOT based on the Hebrew Bible:

So when we crtic RW anti-gays for singling out Gay Marriage from the Bible , really both sides are wrong in their premises:

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Gambling was also illegal:
There where no state lotteries or Indian Casinos ,

and the Mafia and other Org Crime ran gambling:

But Gambling was making White people criminals, as most of the patrons of Gambling where white , and many were rich:

SO gambling became a state enterprise with lotteries , and a heavily taxed one with Casinos, and our culture is much better off for it : the Mafia barely exists anymore:
:: Legalize DRUGS end the war on our inner cities.

"President Nixon announced a war on drugs, but it was President Reagan who started the modern battle in 1982, when hip-hop was in its infancy. This fight would not only shape the black community but also mold hip-hop, a music and culture whose undercurrent remains black male anger at a nation that declared young black men monsters and abandoned them, killing any chance they had at the American Dream."

Monday, June 25, 2012

The tools of politics have been greatly changed by technology during the last decade. How people communicate has changed dramatically as well, with email and cell phones,Blackberrys, iPhones and all else.

But even with the election of Barack Obama asPOTUS -- a moderate-center-liberal Democrat -- the power centers of politics in the USA has not really been changed by the Internet. It is still Democrats and Republicans.

Fifty years from now will the discussions in political science classes be:Why has the Digital Age and the Internet failed to produce any great change in Democracy?

Or: Why was it watershed for better Democracy in the United States (and/or other nations)?[36]

There are also those who assert that Democracy will loose out ---and is loosing out--- to the Globalization of the Government and Corporate Techno-Powers.[37]Seeing the distribution ofacademic and political information, news and views on the Web as dominated by a few mega-corporations[38] some believe the question political-science students will be asked on exams is: “Why and how has the Internet changed democracy for the worst?”

Richard Davis, a Professor of Political Science atBrighamYoungUniversity, in his bookThe Web of Politicsrightly points out that “each innovation in mass communications” instead of creating new power centers, has simply reinforced the existing Government and media power structures.[39]Davis highlights how the hope of television as a positive force of democratization was torpedoed by the enactment of the of the Equal Time Provision(ETP) by Congress during the 1950’s.[40]Because the ETP required broadcasters to give “equal access” for free time, but not equal access for paid time.

"Despite the Internet’s power, a government bent on control can still shut it down. But rulers quickly discover that doing so harms their own interests, Jamais Cascio writes."

"The notion of the Internet as a force of political and social revolution is not a new one. As far back as the early 1990s, in the early days of the World Wide Web, there were technologists and writers arguing forcefully that the Internet was destined to become the most important tool for cultural change in human history. They were (mostly) right, but not for the reasons they believed; in retrospect, strident manifestos such as John Perry Barlow’s 1996 Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace seem almost preciously naive about the nature of power and participation online. The ability of the Internet to alter the course of nations and economies does not come from being independent of the material world, but from being deeply enmeshed in it."

"In fact, it turns out that the Internet is a rather brittle weapon of transformation. If the icon of revolution in the 20th century was the AK-47, for many observers the 21st century icon is the Internet-connected cameraphone. But the AK-47 is a stand-alone technology. The smartphone, conversely, is completely dependent upon a complex physical infrastructure—cellular towers, mobile network providers, the wires and routers behind it all, and more. Of course, this isn’t just a peculiar limitation of cell phones; every type of Internet technology requires an elaborate physical network in order to function. And as protestors from Tehran to San Francisco have discovered, such networks are easy to shut down"http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/06/24/the-internet-may-have-upended-traditional-institutions-but-it-s-a-brittle-weapon.html

Paid Consorts have been part of Human Culture since the beginning of Human Culture. It cannot be legislated away. The more the Government goes after it, the worse the problem becomes, as society's criminal elements take over the operations.

Instead of the women being the ones in control of their service and trade , the woman become slaves and commodities of the Criminal Elements.

Now in NYC the "War" on Paid Consorts is going after livery drivers. In doing this, the law is just creating a new "criminal class", one pulled from a group of otherwise 'law abiding working people'. Average NYers who are just trying to survive and feed their families.

Livery drivers already have one of the most dangerous jobs in NYC. They are surely going to take any fare that does not put them at risk to be killed in some high crime 'hood. The risk to the drivers in driving around Paid Consorts is most certainly less that many other fares that may come their way in our city, even with the new law.

So now, like with the war on drugs, where the combating the drugs, creates more death and destruction than the drugs themselves, the same here in war on Paid Consorts by the Government.

* Instead of a simple economic transaction between client and customer, we now have pimps, drivers, hotel owners, and advertisers, who are accessory to "crimes".

* All the Gov't is doing is upping the ante and stimulating the growth of a broader criminal culture, that would otherwise not exist.

* As well all the Money transacted though these vice industries now goes un-taxed and into the black hole of our nation's economy, further degrading it as well:

Make it all legal: Paid Consorts have been part of Human Culture since the beginning of Human Culture. It cannot be legislated away.

Let the Workers in the Paid Consort Industry Unionize and take control of their trade: Clearly subject to strict regulation and monitoring to protect all involved:

Monday, March 12, 2012

No Moon Colonies in 2012: As thought would be during space race of1960’s. But with the Digital Age todaypeople got global instant contact. And that actually was NOT predicted in the 1950s & 60s at all:

The senators, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both Republicans, laid out a series of diplomatic, humanitarian and military aid proposals that would put the United States squarely behind the effort to topple President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The senators, both of whom are on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that rebel fighters deserved to be armed and that helping them take on the Syrian government would aid Washington’s effort to weaken Iran.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/world/middleeast/mccain-and-graham-suggest-helping-syrian-rebels.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/73043.html‎" >Hasn’t been a front-burner political issue since the Supreme Court decided Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965.>But then Rick Santorum said states ought to have the right to outlaw the sale of contraception.>And Susan G. Komen for the Cure yanked its funding for Planned Parenthood.>And the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops teed off on President Barack Obama’s contraception policy.>And House Republicans invited a panel of five men — and no women — to debate the issue.>And a prominent Santorum supporter pined for the days when “the gals” put aspirin “between their knees” to ward off pregnancy. "